'Somebody was there before me' - Son on scene of Irish dad's 'horrific' death

The son of a Leitrim farmer found dead with mysterious injuries at his home has spoken out as gardaí confirm a cold case review into the case.

On January 11, 2020, 87-year-old Liam Farrell walked home along the N4 road in the village of Rooskey after an evening socialising locally. Fifteen hours later, Liam’s body was found outside his back door. He was badly bruised, partially undressed and lying on his back.

A post-mortem examination concluded Liam died from a heart attack, but Liam’s family remain convinced that there is more to their father’s death, citing injuries to various parts of Liam’s body, bloodied items in the house, and his missing wallet. This week, it was confirmed that Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly has requested that the Serious Crime Review Team look at the investigation.

Speaking about seeing the circumstances of his father’s death in September, Liam’s son Brendan said: “I could understand, yes, a heart attack…but what about the injuries? And what caused the heart attack? What led to that? I mean, it was carnage… you didn’t have to be an expert to know that poor Daddy was attacked.”

At a subsequent inquest, the hospital pathologist, Professor Paul Hartel, carried out a post-mortem examination of Mr Farrell’s body, he revealed he had not been informed that Liam’s body had been removed from a potential crime scene.

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Professor Hartel testified that had he been aware of the circumstances, he would have refused to carry out the autopsy and insisted a forensic pathologist be assigned.

Speaking to Claire Byrne on RTE radio this week, Liam's son Brendan said: "We're coming into six years now on January 12 since we found poor dad at the back of his property in that horrendous, horrific state. It's as if it's happened five minutes ago," he added.

He said getting a letter confirming the cold case review from Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly felt like "we've been listened to," adding, "they're taking daddy's death very seriously now. They're moving it up to the next step."

Brendan described the awful scene and trying to save his dad at the back door of his house, telling Claire that he didn't recognise him given the level of injuries he had sustained.

"It was the most horrific day of my life. I rang the ambulance straight away, pulled in at his window. I ran, my heart was thumping, and I came around the corner, Claire, and the problem is, I didn't recognise him. I don't know whether people can understand this or not but this is my father, a gentle giant, and his head is wedged into that wall, I didn't recognise him. 

"I knew when I was working on him, we were doing the CPR, I could feel I knew, because of the way things were around his body, someone had been there before. We asked them to take out his false teeth because I was afraid it might interrupt when they were working on him, and that caused me concern as well. If anyone was saying, 'oh, your father took a heart attack and he thought he was going to bed in a confused state, well, he'd always take his teeth out, he'd always roll up his tie and that wasn't the case.

I knew and I still know to this day, there was somebody there before I got there," Brendan added.

Brendan said he hopes for answers and described his dad as "an amazing father, grandfather, husband to my late mum, and he loved the kids and he loved simple things. I'd call up to him at the weekend and we'd go for a bit of dinner. Days before he died, we had the dinner and little did I know, that was going to be our last time together," he concluded.

An RTE Prime Time special on the Liam Farrell case was aired in September 2025 and you can watch it below: